Tottenham Hotspur will resume their Europa League campaign against AZ on Thursday.
AZ vs Tottenham Hotspur best bets
Draw - 11/4 with SBK
Tottenham over 0.5 goals first half - 7/10 with BetMGM
Son Heung-min to score any time - 7/4 with Betfred
AZ Alkmaar vs Tottenham Hotspur odds
Find the latest match odds for AZ Alkmaar vs Tottenham Hotspur. All odds are provided by our best football betting sites. Odds are subject to change.
AZ vs Tottenham Hotspur predictions
So it all comes down to this.
Out of the FA Cup and the EFL Cup, and stuck in the bottom half of the Premier League table, Tottenham Hotspur’s season - and possibly Ange Postecoglou’s future - hinges on the Europa League.
Whichever way you look at it, this has been a hugely disappointing campaign for Spurs. They missed out on Champions League qualification by just two points last term; at the time of writing the north Londoners are 13 points adrift of the top five.
In the end they were heavily beaten by Liverpool in the semi-finals of the EFL Cup, while Postecoglou’s side fell at the fourth-round stage of the FA Cup.
Winning the Europa League would make up for everything. In fact, it would be the ideal outcome of Tottenham’s season.
Without a trophy since 2008, Spurs are desperate to get that monkey off their back.
They have had some excellent teams and world-class players in the years since then, most notably the sides led by Harry Redknapp and Mauricio Pochettino that contained the likes of Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Harry Kane.
Yet Tottenham have continually failed to get their hands on a piece of silverware. Forty-one years have now passed since they last went all the way in a continental competition.
Secondly, a Europa League triumph would earn Tottenham a place in next season’s edition of the Champions League, qualification for which was the club’s primary aim at the start of the campaign.
The bookies have Postecoglou’s team down as favourites to win the Europa League, but there could be a little Premier League bias at play there. Athletic Bilbao and Lazio finished second and first in the league phase and both teams are in good shape as the round of 16 gets under way.
Tottenham are undoubtedly dangerous, though. They are in the advantageous position of being able to place all their eggs in the Europa League basket. Postecoglou is starting to get players back from injury too.
“In Europe, it’s a pretty set path,” Postecoglou said of the tournament’s immovable schedule. “It does give us a chance to map out the rest of our season and also give the players some clearer objectives to how we would tackle it.”
The first of those objectives is to beat AZ on Thursday.
AZ vs Tottenham Hotspur betting tips
AZ host Tottenham Hotspur as the Europa League round of 16 gets under way on Thursday.
Draw
AZ should not be underestimated. They are currently sixth in the Eredivisie, which does not exactly suggest a Europa League winner in waiting, but they beat Fenerbahce and Roma among others in the league phase.
In fact, AZ took 10 points from a possible 12 at home in the first part of the tournament, before beating Galatasaray 6-3 on aggregate in the play-offs.
AZ have struggled on their travels so Tottenham should progress over two legs, but they will struggle to come out on top at AFAS Stadion.
Spurs are still without first-choice centre-back duo Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, while AZ showed in a 4-1 thrashing of Galatasaray in the home leg that they can be electric going forward.
At the odds available, a draw looks like the way to go.
⚽ Select a draw at 11/4 with SBK ⚽
Tottenham over 0.5 goals first half
AZ’s stadium is not the biggest with a capacity of just under 20,000, but it produces quite a racket when it gets going.
The Dutch team will attempt to feed off that and exploit Tottenham’s defensive vulnerabilities with a front-footed approach.
Spurs may have to dig in for parts of the first half in particular - and as anyone who has watched them this season knows, that is not exactly a strength of theirs.
At the same time, there will be opportunities for Tottenham to penetrate at the other end of the field.
We like their chances of finding the back of the net in the opening 45 minutes in Alkmaar.
⚽ Back Tottenham to score over 0.5 goals in the first half at 7/10 with BetMGM ⚽
Son Heung-min to score any time
Postecoglou made his priorities clear with his team selection against Manchester City last week, leaving Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Djed Spence out of his starting line-up.
Those players should now be fresher for the trip to AZ, with all three set to return to the XI here.
Son has not had the best season of his career and it is now clear that the South Korea international is past his peak.
But Son remains a dangerous player and none of his team-mates have scored more goals in the Europa League.
The Tottenham legend can play his part as his team attempt to establish a first-leg lead on Thursday.
⚽ Choose Son Heung-min to score any time at 7/4 with Betfred ⚽
📺 How to watch AZ vs Tottenham Hotspur
Location: AFAS Stadion, Alkmaar, Netherlands.
Date and time: Thursday 6th March, 5.45pm.
How to watch: TNT Sports 3.
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